14 Chapter 14

Who the hell would break in here just to give me drugs? Jason wondered as he started coming back into consciousness. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, he felt like they'd been glued shut. Slowly, he was able to open them up again. He was still in the cottage, but it was fairly bright out. It had to have been later in the morning. His phone read 11:34am, plenty of time. He wondered what the hell had happened last night, suddenly remembering and looking towards the door which was up and locked, just as he had left it. But it was kicked down, Jason was confused. Jason narrowed it down to just a bad dream, a weird one, or just a combination.

"What the fuck?" Jason exclaimed as he checked his forearm for a fresh needle mark.

There was nothing to be found, just old scars. Dreams felt too real these days, between the forest and his nightmare, now this. He couldn't help but feel like he was losing it. Smoking always helped clear his head, it distracted him of unwanted thoughts. Stepping outside, Jason lit himself a cigarette.

He could hear a voice, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, "Jason." It sounded a lot like Fenris.

Jason looked around, was he hearing things or did he really hear it?

"Wake up." Fenris spoke louder and Jason all of a sudden wasn't smoking or feeling hot air anymore.

Opening his eyes for the second time, and waking up again, Jason found himself laying down on the forest floor. Fenris stood over him, and Daphis right next to him.

"Jason, we have a serious problem." Fenris said, a look of worry on his face.

Jason stood up quickly, surprised again by his ability to do so without aching. He looked at Daphis, something seemed different about her.

"Follow me, Jason." Fenris said.

Jason followed, not thinking of what to say. Fenris led the way a short distance away until they were led to a scene Jason didn't expect in this place. The winged unicorn, the thing that radiated beauty and magic wherever it went, it lay there dead. Whoever did this left a bloody mess of things. The horn had been severed completely off and lay just in front of the mangled body of the creature. the wings were sliced off, and the innards lay on the forest floor just in front of it. Jason was disgusted by the sight.

"Who did this?" Jason asked, suddenly full of rage.

Fenris shook his head, "We can only guess it was the work of the humans." Fenris turned to Jason, "The men who attacked you the first day you were here."

Jason turned to Fenris from the creature with white knuckles, "Then we're going to find them and kill them."

Fenris shook his head, "If it were that simple, we would have done it already." He said. "There would be no need for you or the training we're giving you." There was a little resentment in his tone.

"What can we do?" Jason asked. "We can't just wait for them to do something else."

"Our thoughts exactly, Jason." Fenris said. "We're going to take things a step further, but you aren't going to like it."

Jason was no stranger to the unpleasant nature of life, "I can handle it."

"I hope so." Fenris replied. "Follow me, I have something to show you."

Fenris started walking again, Daphis stayed behind with the creature, silently mourning it. Jason followed Fenris, watching Daphis until he couldn't see her anymore. Fenris kept a steady pace, walking further and further into the forest until Jason couldn't see any familiar terrain. They were somewhere Jason had never been.

"I'm going to show you all I can, it'll help you understand what is going on here and why it's so important that you help us." Fenris explained.

"Then what?" Jason asked.

"One step at a time, Jason."

They kept walking further into the forest. The sky changed rapidly with every step, the sun getting lower and lower in the sky as if hours were made into minutes. Nothing about this place surprised Jason anymore. Without warning, Fenris stopped walking. Jason stopped just a few feet from Fenris.

"What is about to happen now, Jason, is a little hard to explain. Just try and remain calm, and trust me." Fenris said.

Jason didn't say anything as he watched Fenris materialize a staff out of thin air. It was shiny and silver, but short, maybe only three feet long. A single point formed at the tip of the staff, turning it into a sharp weapon. Fenris, without warning, spun around quickly and plunged the end of the weapon straight into Jason's temple.

As surprised as Jason was, he didn't have the time or ability to react. Instead of losing consciousness and waking up as he was used to, Jason instead saw the forest from a different point of view. It looked the same, but felt different. Jason had a different perspective, a different understanding. There was no feeling of the thrill of the hunt, no stress, no fear, just a magical forest. Far from the forest, however, there was a city. It wasn't like the modern kind of city Jason had been used to, it was a city made of dark stone. Resembling something like that of an older empire, before the age of technology, the city forged weapons, trained warriors, and drank the days away. There was an uncomfortable feeling about this place. Inside a large castle, the second floor housed a leader, a king of sorts. Jason immediately knew who this was, but didn't know how. This king was named Xela, and he was a blood thirsty man. His queen, Aidyl was the same way. They seemed to want one thing and one thing alone, possession of the power that the forest held. They just didn't know how to get it. This was the reason they trained, and the reason they were sending small groups of men into the forest. To discover and kill.

Jason couldn't explain his understanding of this place or their motives, but the king and his queen didn't strike him as regular adversaries. They were powerful in a separate way than that of the forest. Their power was dark and angry. Jason Flashed to another scene, the first time one of them drew blood in the forest. It was a dark night, and an old man was walking around, enjoying the forest and the wonder it had to offer. He was brutally attacked and left to die by a team of the men who ambushed him. Everything seemed to happen so quickly, but Jason couldn't do anything about it. He saw a few small battles, most of which ended with Xelas men winning, and life in the forest being lost.

Jason suddenly came back to the forest, standing in front of Fenris again as Fenris removed the weapon from Jason's head. Jason stumbled, dazed, but completely unharmed. He staggered back to his feet, but couldn't speak yet, he didn't have words to say.

"That's all the understanding of this I can give you, the rest is hazy, but we're figuring it out." Fenris explained.

Jason caught his bearing, "What does any of this have to do with me? Why do you need my help?"

Fenris sighed, "This is where it gets complicated."

"I'm listening." Jason said.

"This world exists in human imagination, humans just can't grasp the complexity of this place, and the magic it possesses would drive the human world to war of magnitudes greater than any other." Fenris said. "So, this world and yours were separated. Somehow, though, they became connected again and humans came here to wage war. We aren't sure how, but it happened."

Jason was confused.

"You possess something that very few possess, but you more so than any other to our knowledge." Fenris said. "You have a strong connection to both worlds, and the connection to both the human world and this one gives you the power to alter everything to a greater degree than even the most powerful being here."

"What does that mean?" Jason asked.

Fenris smiled, "It means that you have the power to change both worlds through your actions, and that only you can right the wrong."

"How do I do that?" Jason asked.

"That much, is completely up to you. I can only give you the tools. Even I don't know where that will lead." Fenris said.

"I don't know what to make of that."

"The most I can confidentially tell you is this, there are two possibilities, one possibility is the separation of both worlds again." Fenris said.

"And the other?"

Fenris thought for a second about how to say it, "This is only in the most extreme of cases, but the other could potentially lead to the end of one world or the other."